Metallurgy had its glory days during the steel revolution around World War 2 and well into the early 90's. Most metal-related issues such as extraction, refining, processing, structure & properties, performance, etc. are covered within this field. With the advent of modern computing techniques/databases in areas such as thermodynamics, first-principles/atomistic modeling advances, and new imaging & analysis tools and techniques, the field has been transformed more into a science that attempts to explain the behavior of materials at various length scales, usually ranging from nm to microns and beyond. Principles of metallurgy are still very relevant in the modern day metamorphosis of this field, i.e., materials science, which now includes non-metal specialties such as ceramics, polymers, electronic materials & biomaterials along with metals.
National Geographic had a nice article on materials or materials science a few years ago that is worth reading, or pick up a book on Introduction to Materials, or read some introductory material at websites managed by various Materials Science departments.
Good luck!
Going back even further than the 90's simply because WWI/II doesn't do metallurgy justice.
It also refers to the medieval era where a blacksmith (metallurgist: as it refers to the science of metal and its malleability) is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by "forging" the metal; i.e., by using hand tools to hammer, bend, cut and otherwise shape it in its non-liquid form. Usually the metal is heated until it glows red or orange as part of the forging process. Blacksmiths create such products as wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils and weapons. A skilled blacksmith can make a good looking product that shows skill and ingenuity with the minimum amount of work and energy.
But it has been improved on vastly as you can tell by Martensite's post above, it has been formed into a scientifical business where much of it remains unchanged via materials and items created.
They are still fashioned by the heating and moulding of metal but unlike the blacksmith era the techniques have changed.
No longer is a hammer required.
MDT
25th January 2007 - 11:05 PM
I would say the bulk of the fundamentals were developed with bare bones techniques. Now is it more a matter of fine tuning, with the fine tuning mostly good for making small samples of new variations. Try to build a steel bridge using test tube scale science. Much of the new stuff, beyond semi conductors, can't be engineered to significant scales.
One can make diamond filaments that have new extreme properties. Scale that up and make me a necklace. That becomes a major undertaking that will cost as much as a fighter jet. All these special properties are sort of a moot point until it can be made cheaply. Old school may not be so exotic but it gets the job done and can be scaled up. With that we can make a graphite necklace for statue of liberty at the same price.
There is an old Monty Python skit about a patient in the hospital. The doctor tells them to bring in the machine that goes "bing" It is not really functional but looks hi tech and makes people feel better. The treatment is then done with tradtional approaches, with the machine that goes bing just their for show.
The golden age of science already plowed the field. We are in the silver age of science where we go back and break up the dirt clods and shift the soil a little finer.